Rail anchor



A. F. FIFIELD RAIL ANCHOR Feb. 10, 1931.

Filed Sept. 16. 192,?

Feh. ad, 1931 L.- FIEIELD, OF ST. CATE-ZAIVINES, ONTARIO, CANADA,ASEIGNOR T9 THE AMEEECAH F033. 8?. GOIVZPANY, CLEVELAND, OHIG, .l-LCOEPORATIOH GE (BI-1'10 ANGHQR Application My invention relates to railanchors and relates particularly to rail anchors of the type generallyknown as two piece anchors and which comprise a clamp element adapted tobe driven onto one rail base flange and a retaining clip adapted to beinterlocked therewith and to retain the clamp from dis placement.

An object of my invention is to provide an m improve-d rail anchor ofthe above character adapted for ready application to a rail base andready removal therefrom, but which will not become dislodged byapplication of the stressesrand shocks imparted thereto incidenu tal tothe use of the rails.

Another object of my invention is to provide an improved rail anchor,which may be inexpensively manufactured but which will be highlyefficient in use to prevent creeping of the rails to which it isattached.

Another object of my invention is to provide an improved two piece railanchor con prising a clamp and clip, the clip being adapted to beremoved and another clip of tie same kind substituted but of a differentsize to accommodate rail bases of diiferent sizes.

Another object of my invention is to provide an improved rail anchorwhich will strongly resist improper distortion incidental to the forcesexerted upon it during use and yet which may be inexpensivelymanufactured lar ely or entirely of sheet metal.

Another object of my invention is to provide a rail anchor in which theforces impart-ed to a part of the anchor depending below the rail basetending to cant the anchor rotationally in a vertical plane will bestrong- 1y resisted, but will brace widelyseparated jaw portions of aclamp portion of the anchor.

'ther objects of my invention and the invention itself will becomeapparent by ref 45 erence to the following description of an embodii entthereof, and which embodiment is illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings.

Referring to the drawings, Fig. l illustrates in side elevation a railanchor disclos ing the principles of my invention shown as Serial No.3922869.

attached to a rail base, which is illustrated in transverse section;

Fig. 2 is an end elevational view of an anchor attached to a rail shownin side elevation;

l 3 is an inclined sectional view of the attached anchor taken on theline 38 of i i,;. l; i

if; ig. l is a longitudinal section view of the attached anchor taken onthe line l& of

5 is perspective view of clamp eleme t employed in the said embodiment;

Fig. 6 is a rear elevational view of the clamp per se;

is an elevationalview of the clamp element employed in the saidembodiment shown in normal form assumed when unat tached.

Referring now to all of the figures of drawings and in all of which likeparts are designated by like reference characters The rail base to whichthe anchor is to be rttached is shown at 1 and comprises flanges and 3.At l I show a fixed tie of the road ed supporting the rails, such as therail 1, .nd adapted to be engaged by a portion of the rail anchorailirzed to the-rail to restrain creeping of the rail' The rail anchorof the embodiment of my invention illustrated in the drawings comises aclamp 5 and a separate clip 6, the c p 6 having a short upstanding hook7 at its tip and its other end is reversely turned to form an open loop8, the loop and hook projecting from the same side of the clip.

Fig. 7 illustrates in solid lines the normal form of the clip and indotted lines the ap proximate form of the clip when distorted by beingapplied, jointly with the clamp 5 to a rail base; when applied the loop8 is somewhat more widely than Fig. 7. clamp 5 is preferably in the formof a c i 1 having a rear end wall 9 and side walls 10 and 11, the endwall being pierced to provide alongitudinally extending aperture 12, aninwardly pr jecting preferably arcuate tongue 13, being formed from thematerial otherwise disposed in the aperture during the piercingoperation.

The channel is deformed at its upper end, being turned inwardly so tocause the clamp to have a pendant channel portion and a clamping portioninturned with reference thereto at an acute angle and provided with alongitudinally entenijling medial depression 14: with longitudinal sideridges 15 and 1G to provide a pair of spaced jaws 17 adapted to over-liethe upper sin-face of a ra il base flange such as 3, and a pair of lowerjaws 18 extending obliquely inwardly to merge with the edges 19 of thechannel sides 10 and 11 and adapted to under-lie and engage with thelower surface of the rail base flange such as 3.

The cooperating upper jaws 17 and lower jaws 18 are adapted to embracethe rail base flange 3 when the clamp is driven thereon by striking theclamp with a maul in the direction and approximately at the point indiatcd by the arrow 20 of Fig. 1.

The trough or depression 14; is provided with an end wall or stop 21, atthe forwarc end of the upper arm of the clamp and extends rcarwardlytherefrom to the upper edge of the aperture 12 as defined by theinwardly projecting tongue 13. \"i hen the anchor is assembled for useon the rail, the forward end of the clip carrying the hook 7 isprojected from the rear side of th anchor clamp through the aperture 12of the rear wall 9 with hooks 7 and 8 extending upwardly and the forwardedge 22 of the open hook 8 is placed within the groove or depression1-1v on the upper surface of the clamp and be tween the longitudinallyextending spaced ridges 15 and 16 formed thereon, which serve to guidethe end 22 of the hook forwardly when the hook is driven tightly ontothe clamp.

The clamp 5 is preferably driven onto its associated rail base flange 3before the application of the'clip 6, and when this procedure isadopted, the clip 6 is driven by the maul striking from and atapproximately the point indicated by the arrow 20, as before and theengagement of the short arm 23 of the loop 8 with the upper surface ofthe groove 14 of the clamp will effect a tendency toward rotationalmovement of the hookedend 7 about the engaged depressed portion of theclamp, to force the hook 7 upwardly, pressing the reach arm 2%intermediate the loop and hook tightly against the bottom of the railbase and the energy stored in the resilient clip 6 as a result of thistendency toward rotational movement and the resiliency of the clip willfinally, upon complete driving of the clip to the home positionindicated in Fig. 1, will effect a snapping of the hook 7 over the edgeof the rail base flange 2 to accomplish abutting engagement between theinner surface of the hook and the vertical edge surface of the railflange. Engagement of the end edge 22 with the stop 21 immediately priorto the snapping of the shoulder 7 over the rail flange 2, preventsfurther movement of the free end of the hook 8 and consequently furtherdriving to accomi h the snappin action results in deflection Theinwardly turned tongue 13 integrally secured to the clan forms aprojection of depressed poi ion 1-1; of the clamp which embraced b I thec hook 8 forming a seat tions of the shorter and .r arms of the cliphoot;

in operation, th= anchor of my invention operates to grip the rail baseflanges by what are con'in'ionly known in the art as sluing grip andeanting grip actions effected by attempted creeping of the rail caiyingthe anchor to press that one of the lateral channel walls 10 and 11ne:-;t adjacent the tie 4L therea inst.

A fur ther creeping effort will be restrained upon a slight tiltingel'i'ort eii'ected upon the clamp by its lower channel portion engagingthe tie and by a slight sluing eliort effected thereupon by the samecontact with the tie,

whereby the clamp slightly tilted and the clip slightly slued to take amore oblique position relative to its initial position nornia to theaxis of the rail with the combined result that opposite jaw edges of theanchor clamp disposed at the two sides of the clamp, one engaging theupper surface of the rail has ange 3 and the other the lower surfacethereof, will make a biting grippii'ig contact therewith; also an inneredge of the inner surface of the heel: 7 nearest the tie and a jawportion of the clamp on the opposite side of the anchor will cooperateto effect the sluing grip.

The resiliently deformed clip ellected during the driving on operationwill effect maintenance of the anchor in the rail gripping position,which it adopts in service during use of the anchor on the rail toprevent relative creeping of the rail which carries the anchor.

Having thus described for purposes of illustrating my invention oneembodiment thereof, I am aware that numerous and extensive departuresmay be made from the e1nbodiment of my invention herein illustrated anddescribed, but without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

1.v A two piece rail anchor comprising a clamp having jaws adapted togrip a rail base flange when driven thereon and a pendant portionadapted to engage an abutting rail suooorting tie, and a clip having arail edge s rrace abutting hook at one end and an ope-,1 loop at theother end, said clamp having a wall perforated below its jaws, said clipadapted to be extended through the clamp perforation with its hook andloop upper-most, and said hook foremost, said loop adapted toresiliently contractingly embrace both said jaws, said hook adapted toengage the vertical side edge of the opposite rail base flange and to besnapped into ongagement therewith upon driving of the loop onto theclamp jaws.

2. A two piece rail anchor comprising a clamp having jaws adapted togrip a rail base flange when driven thereon and a pendant portionadapted to engage an abutting rail supporting tie, and a clip having arail edge surface abutting hook at one end and an open loop at the otherend, said clamp having a wall p rforated below its jaws, said clipadapted to be extended through the clamp perforation with its hook andloop uppermost and said hook foremost, said loop adapted to resilientlycontractingly embrace both said jaws, said hook adapted to engage thevertical side edge of the opposite rail base flan e and to be snappedinto engagement therewith upon driving of the loop onto the o jaws, saidclamp comprising a stop en igeable with the forward edge of the free armof the loop when said loop is driven onto the clamp 3. A two piece railanchor comprising a clamp having jaws adapted to grip a rail base flangewhen driven thereon and a pendant portion adapted to engage an abuttingrail supporting tie, and a clip having a rail edge surface abutting hookat oneend and open loop the other end, said clamp having a wallperforated below its jaws, said clip adapted to be extended through theclamp perforation with its hook and loop upper-most, and said hookforemost, said loop adapted to resiliently contractingly embrace bothsaid jaws, said hook adapted to e "age the vertical side edge of theopposite base flange and to be snapped into engagement therewith upondriving of the loop onto the clamp jaws, said clamp pendant portionbeing of generally channel form and comprising rear wall portion havingsaid perforation.

4. A two piece rail anchor comprising a clamp having jaws adapted togrip a rail base flange when driven thereon and a pendnt portionadapter. to engage an abutting ail supporting tie, and a clip having arail SLPIE'ZLCQ abutting hook at one end and open loop at the other end,said clamp having a wall perforated below its jaws, said clip adapted tobe extended through the clamp perforation with its hook and loopupper-most, and said hook foremost, said loop adapted to resilientlycontractingly embrace both said jaws, said hook adapted to engage thevertical side edge of the opposite rail base flange and to be snappedinto engagement therewith upon driving of the loop onto the clamp aws,said clamp pendant portion being of generally channel form andcomprising a rear wall portion having said perforrr tion, said clampformed with a longitudinal ly extending intermediate portion, depressedinwardly relative to laterally disposed ridge portions positioned on thepper part of tne clamp, said loop bein adapted for position on saiddepressed portion intermediate the ridges.

5. A two piece rail anchor comprising a resilient reach arm adapted tobe projected below a rail base transversely thereof and terminating atone end in a loop, and at its other end in a hook, engageable with alateral surface of a rail base flange and a clamp element having aportion embraced by said loop and having a pair of upper and lower railbase engaging jaws adapted to grip the other '1 base flange when driventhereon and a I tion pendant therefrom for engagement with a lateralsurface of a rail supporting tie,

6. A two piece rail anchor comprising a resilient reach arm adapted tobe projected below a rail base transversely thereof and terminating atone end in a loop, and at its other end in a hook, engageable with alateral surface of a rail base flange and a clamp element havingaportion embraced by said loop and having a pair of upper and lower railbase engaging jaws adapted to grip the other rail base flange whendriven thereon a portion pendant therefrom for engagement with a.lateral surface of a rail support ing tie, said reach arm projectedthrough a wall of said pendant portion and adapted for resilientdistortion tending to continuously effect an upward tilting efiort uponits hooked end to maintain the hooked end in engagement with the bottomsurface of the rail base and resiliently distorted during the driving inits loop portion to longitudinall extend the hook over the rail baseflange edge, to said up resilient retractoral effort therein constantlyexerting a resilient effort to press the hook against the lateralsurface of the said rail base flange.

7. A two-piece rail anchor comprising a trough shape clamp bentintermediate its ends to form opposing rail base flange enveloping jawsand pierced below the jaws, and a resilient clip formed with a resilientloop at one end and a tongue extending from an arm of the loop throughthe pierced clamp below m i q the rail base, said loop embracing thejawed portion of the clamp, said tongue underlying the rail base andprovided with an upturned free end portion adapted to be snapped overthe remote rail base flange edge, when the clip is driven onto the clampand with the tongue projected through the pierced clamp.

8. In a rail anchor, a clamp element in the form of a sheet metalchannel bent interme- 19 diate its ends to provide a pair of channeledarms disposed relatively at an acute angle to each other, with theirchanneled sides disposed innermost, and providing rail flange engagingjaws by the opposing; edges of their 5 lateral walls, and a reach armelement en- ;zaneable by an end with said clamp adapted to be projectedbelow a rail and to make resilient-1y mounted engagement with a lateralsurface of the opposite rail base flange by its other end, said reacharm element retaining said clamp on its associated rail base flange.

9. In a rail anchor, a clamp element in the form of a sheet metalchannel bent intermediate its ends to provide a pair of channeled armsdisposed relatively at an acute angle to each other, with theirchanneled sides dis-- posed innermost, and providing rail flangeengaging jaws by the opposing edges of their lateral walls, and a reacharm element gageable by an end with said clamp adapted to be projectedbelow a rail base and to make resiliently mounted en; emen't with a lateral surface of the opp site rail base flange by its other end, saidreach arm element retaining said clamp on its associated rail baseflange, one of said clamp arms disposed pendantly below its associatedrail base flange and having a pierced wall, said reach arm elementprojecting through the opening provided by the piercedwall.

In testimony whereof I hereunto ailir; my signature this 30th day ofAugust, 1929.

ALBERT F. FIFIELD.

